Professional American football player Fred Cox invented one of the world's most popular toys. In the 1970s, he came up...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• Professional American football player Fred Cox invented one of the world's most
• popular toys.
• In the 1970s,
  • he came up with the idea
    • for the Nerf football,
      • which [?] a smaller, foam version(s)
        • of the harder and heavier regulation football.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

"Professional American football player Fred Cox invented one of the world's most popular toys."

• So Fred Cox was a football player who also invented a really popular toy.

"In the 1970s, he came up with the idea for the Nerf football,"

• In the 1970s, Fred Cox invented the Nerf football.

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank:

• "which ______ of the harder and heavier regulation football."

Let's look at our choices:

• A: were a smaller, foam version
• B: are smaller, foam versions
• C: were smaller, foam versions
• D: is a smaller, foam version

What do we need to figure out?

• We need the right verb (is/are/were)
• We need to know if it's singular (version) or plural (versions)

The key is understanding what "which" refers to:

• "which" is pointing back to the noun right before it
• That noun is "the Nerf football"
• "the Nerf football" is singular - it's one thing

So what do we notice about the grammar here?

• The verb needs to match "the Nerf football" - it needs to be singular
• This eliminates B and C because "are" and "versions" are plural

Now, what about the tense?

• Yes, Fred Cox invented it in the 1970s (that's past)
• BUT the sentence is describing WHAT the Nerf football IS
• It's describing a permanent characteristic
• The Nerf football is STILL a smaller, foam version today
• For permanent characteristics, we use present tense

So we need:

• "is" (present tense, singular) not "were" (past tense)
• "a smaller, foam version" (singular with article "a")

The correct answer is D: "is a smaller, foam version"

The complete meaning: Fred Cox invented the Nerf football in the 1970s, and it is a smaller, softer version of a real football.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verbs with "Which" - Finding the Connection

When you see "which" in a sentence, it's referring back to a noun that came before it (called the antecedent in grammar terms). The verb that follows "which" must match that noun in number:

The Pattern:

• Find what "which" refers to
• Is it singular or plural?
• Make the verb match

Example 1 - Singular:

• "The report, which contains new data, surprised researchers."
• "which" refers to → "the report" (singular)
• Verb → "contains" (singular)

Example 2 - Plural:

• "The reports, which contain new data, surprised researchers."
• "which" refers to → "the reports" (plural)
• Verb → "contain" (plural)

In this question:

• "the Nerf football, which is a smaller, foam version..."
• "which" refers to → "the Nerf football" (singular)
• Verb → "is" (singular)
• Plus, we use present tense because we're describing what the Nerf football IS as a permanent characteristic

Bonus tip about tense: When you're describing what something IS (its definition or permanent characteristics), use present tense even if the invention or creation happened in the past. The invention happened in the past, but the characteristic exists in the present.